By Lauralee Budd

She was born in Utah, but her parents are from Mexico. Most of her friends are Caucasian. She said one of her friends makes jokes about Hispanics and Mexicans. Fourteen-year-old Sandra Vegara speaks Spanish at home but said she doesn't feel like she fits in with Hispanics who have just immigrated to the United States.

"A lot of times there's a difference when you're just coming here from a different country," Vegara said. "There is a different attitude, but when you've been here for awhile you know how people here are. It kind of changes your view a little bit."

Like Sandra, a small, but rising portion of first and second generation Hispanics in Utah find themselves stuck in a cultural dichotomy that schools and society are not prepared to deal with.

This cultural dichotomy is not new to Hispanics born in the United States.

Eighty-year-old Jessie Soriano, who was born to Mexican parents in the United States, said he always thought of himself as a Mexican until he was stationed in Europe during the Korean War and someone yelled "Yank." He said he was shocked when he realized they were talking to him.

Currently educators can see the effect this cultural dichotomy is having on Hispanics born in the United States.

"There is a huge difference between Hispanic kids who were born here in the states and those who were born outside of the states," said Claudia Rios, who works with Hispanic fifth graders in the Nuevo Dia program. "Kids born here are more street smart. They know the system."

Hispanics who have just arrived do not know the system.

"Many newly migrated families, especially those who are not legal, anything they do bad they are afraid of being deported," Rios said. "They teach their families: 'you have to behave. You have to do what they say otherwise they'll kick us out.'"

Rios works with fifth- and sixth-graders to help them stay in school. She said sometimes she can tell who was born in the United States just by the way they talk to her. She and other educators agree that Hispanic youth born in the United States usually have more behavioral problems and are more at-risk then their counterparts.

"The school system I think has to do a lot with it," Vegara said. "Outside of the U.S., the way kids learn in school in other countries, it's very, very strict. In Latin America, you never raise your voice to a teacher. They do see a teacher as an authority."

Gonzalo Palza, CEO of Centro de la Familia and with years of experience in education, said some Hispanic youth might be involved in delinquency because "they are hopeless in their productive choices."

Palza said according to recent studies, 50 percent of all Hispanic third-graders - about 5,000 - score below the proficiency level in reading, math and science. When these students begin to mature in the system and realize that they are not comparable, he said they "will feel helpless with regards to ever graduating from high school."

Educators agree a solution must be found.

"It takes a true visionary to understand the magnitude of this problem and offer a solution to this," Palza said. "The solutions ... are generational. You will not see the results for 10 years. The education institutions are slow in acting. Every year that goes by we are losing a big chunk of our Latino generations from schools."

Palza said solutions require an "important paradigm change."

"The first thing that needs to happen is that our stakeholders have to realize and understand and accept that there is an achievement gap," Palza said.

In Provo some educators say people are ignoring the problem. West Provo is an area where lower income and government housing is located. There is graffiti on the sidewalks and buildings. Sirens are heard often. Some local school children call it a "ghetto."

Jose Enriquez said the problems of the achievement gap are here, and people cannot ignore them.

"So long as it's hidden it's not going to solve anything," Enriquez said. "This community professes to be service oriented ... but, we don't have to go to another country to serve. There is so much to do in our own backyard."

Enriquez and David Dominguez, a professor at the BYU School of law, are writing a document about the problems Provo faces because of the achievement gap. They hope to get the community talking.

"You can either do something about it or you can just have another California in about 10 years and deal with it then," Enriquez said.



Copyright Brigham Young University 10 Jan 2007